::This chapter is a dream sequence::

WARNING: Contains carefully worded sexual content, possibly triggering content.

Recommended reading: *Realization* by ProtossPianist98, an OoT one-shot.

Chapter 21

A New Life

A light shined saffron through my eyelids. A soft breeze licked at my face as the clean smell of pine permeated the air. I took the oxygen into my lungs, filling them to capacity. I breathed out, finally allowing the brightness to filter through my light receptors. It was transformed into a myriad of color, existing within, only. Were hues and pigments truly real, or were they an illusion…?

A perception, a perspective, present merely in the acuity of my mind.

What was reality, anyway…? Was it hard and fast matter and substance, or simply what lay in cognizance?

After everything, after it all, I wasn't sure.

Yet, one thing was real no matter how I perceived it: freedom.

We were older now. I was older, much older than when I had first come here. I was taller and broader, aged and tempered both by time and by war. It showed in the creases on my face and in the scars on my body.

But, she loved every one of them.

I could feel her here, without having to open my eyes, but, I did anyway, for I wanted the full experience, to see that which I loved…What I loved more than life itself.

I had changed so much, and so had she. My relationships had changed. The war had been a thief and a patron, stealing from me people I had known my whole life, yet gifting me with newfound brotherhood, stronger than what I ever thought possible.

I couldn't believe how many of my friends were gone. But, of the ones that remained, I was closer to.

"Link…?"

I felt amazing. I couldn't feel any better. My body tingled with an intensely satisfying feeling of completion. A blazing fire had been quenched by a torrent of water, fresher than any mountain stream.

"Link?" I felt her finger caress my ear. I pulled away, not because her touch felt wrong, but because I couldn't take any more pleasure.

"Mmmmm…?"

Her head rested on my chest, a fitting end to what we had just created. I brought my nose to her hair, closer than I had been able to before this phase in our lives had begun. It was okay now.

It was a touch, a kiss, an embrace, a connection without shame.

Entirely free of guilt, both within, and without.

My early decisions created a domino effect. With a single word I played a god, cutting the thread of life for some yet sparing others.

It had been nightmarish and prodigious, devastating and miraculous. It was war.

It all mattered. It would matter forever. But, it was over. Amity was all that existed. Gone were the days of military campaigns, of strategy, of armament, of working tirelessly to unite a mélange of armies, of turning knights into soldiers and soldiers into knights, of the threat of siege, of reconnaissance, of tactical decisions that would lead to the shedding of blood, of leading the men of Hylia to victory or to death, of never sleeping for more than a few minutes at a time, of telling her that her husband was dead…

But, these lives had not been given in vain.

Now, children ran freely around the rebuilt surface villages…

"Did you enjoy that?"

A smile filled my face.

"Even more than last time."

She giggled.

I looked to the left, to the right, to the front…Bright paths laid themselves in every direction. Cottages, mountains, cities, oceans, fields, valleys, wide open skies, they were all there, waiting to be claimed. It was time for the era of peace.

"Link, where do you want to go?"

I sighed, gladly overtaken by my halcyon world, and this angel who had crafted it with me.

They had asked us to stay, to play a prominent role in the reconstruction, in the deliberations with the surface tribes, in the building of a kingdom.

Vital, is what they called us.

The blood and spirit of the Goddess and the Hero. It belonged here, all of it.

One day, I told them. One day soon. But first…

"Anywhere."

I shut my eyes again, holding her to me, thankful that the battles had spared her. Thousands had been far less fortunate.

"Link?"

I adored the sound of her voice.

"Yes?"

"Link?"

"Yes, my queen?"

"Sky child…"

"…"

"Sky child…"

"What did you call me?

My world went black.

Suddenly, I was cold. The sun no longer bathed me in its warmth.

I tossed, coming to. It was dark. I felt linen beneath me, cool in the places where my body hadn't touched. I turned my hands to grip the sheet…

I opened my eyes.

A huge, lavish room. A bedchamber.

I sat upright in haste, gasping and gripping at my body as I strained what was surely injured muscles. I groaned, running my fingers along my limbs. I pulled the foreign, pale material away from my right arm. Cuts and bruises littered it.

Bringing my palms to my ribcage, I winced, realizing that my torso had been wrapped tautly in gauze.

I looked around. Someone must have laid me here to rest, and tended to my injuries…

My injuries? Where was I? I needed answers…

Snubbing the pain, I clambered to my feet. Agony shot through every inch of me. I curled against it.

Physical pain dominated, yet was paired with a strange, unidentifiable longing…

I had to set out...to give it a name.

Breathing shallowly, I looked around the room. An oil lantern on an elaborate bedside table lit the space. The fibers of a thick red carpet surrounded my toes. It brushed the toughened bottoms of my feet as I cautiously walked.

The excessively ornamented walls were closing in on me. The room was spacious, but wasn't large by any means.

Just small enough to prompt my desire for escape.

I stepped faster now, passing by several pieces of moquette covered furniture. This room hadn't been used in ages.

I looked back at the bed, wondering how long I'd been sleeping there.

I turned ahead to an open door.

I wasn't being held here…

I left the room, stepping into the hallway. It was enormous, with a width of at least thirty paces and a towering ceiling.

I followed the corridor, led by candescent wall torches. Somehow, I knew that they had been placed here just for me.

Huge, gilded doors vanished in the dimness as I walked, searching, wondering, wanting…

"Sky child."

I picked my head up, sensing where the voice had come from. A wide, carpeted staircase lay before me. The voice had drifted down from the second floor. My eyes enlivened. My feet sped up.

Limping, I reached the foot of the stairs. Lifting my leg proved difficult, but not impossible. The discomfort didn't matter. I needed to ascend to the next level.

Dozens of stairs, and hundreds of aches. At the top of my own personal mountain, I jubilated motionlessly.

"Come, sky child."

Just as my heart quickened, so did my feet. An enormous marble statue of a man went practically unnoticed. Another plush rug met my bare soles. Even the railing that lined the mezzanine was gilt-edged.

The master bedroom. That's where I was going. I already knew.

Turning a corner, I spotted my destination. Golden double doors were splayed open, awaiting me.

I peeked inside before entering. Even in my familiarity, I was afraid. I would always be afraid of him.

"Come, sky child."

I shuddered, obeying his authoritative voice. Within seconds, my pained body was next to him.

He was seated before a fireplace, facing away. I stood with arms dangling, baggy, pallid fabric streaming down, waiting.

I studied him. Seated, his form was the same - confident, poised, robust, insurmountable. He couldn't be bothered to look at me until it was of the utmost convenience. He was in the middle of a page.

"I see you've awoken." His voice was the same, but his tone was different. He seemed calm. "You've been sleeping for two days. Not surprising…" He turned to me, his black eyes lined with russet burning into me, "…Considering your ravaged state." He returned to his book.

I looked down, noticing the pain more now. Yet, in this place, where I stood, it didn't hurt as much.

"What do you recall, sky child?" He flipped his page. I waited quietly, for I had no answer to give. I didn't remember anything. "It's over."

I inhaled deeply. Over? Did that mean what I thought it meant?

"I would say you are a rare breed, unique among your kind, but I would be guiltier of exaggeration than a human is of worshiping a pitiable goddess."

I waited.

"Believe me, sky child, right now, there is no shortage of failed heroes in this world. You are but one among countless."

I wanted to speak, to ask about my friends and what became of them. I needed to know what was happening in the place endearingly dubbed 'Castle Town' by my fellow knights and soldiers…our makeshift home.

"It's gone, human."

I blinked. It was as if he had read my thoughts.

"They are also gone." He turned another page.

What? It couldn't be…

My friends, the village…Skyloft, all those civilians…

I had promised her…

"Most remain alive." His tone was disturbingly nonchalant. "Those with a purpose have been kept. All others – knights, soldiers – are gone. It was the only way." His book shut with a small thud. He slowly rose, still viewing the fire.

It was beginning to climb higher.

My eyes reached his head as it came to loom over me. I saw his arms cross to undress his shoulders of his heavy crimson cloak. After draping it on his chair, he circled round.

When his eyes came upon me fully, my breath caught in my throat. He looked different to me. His arms were bare, no longer clutched by vambraces. His pale attire appeared stately, yet comfortable.

However, I was anything but. He was staring at me, hard.

I had come here. This was my doing. I had heard his voice and I had…wanted to come.

My heart picked up even more. My eye contact faltered as I looked down.

I didn't remember, yet I knew.

As he took a step, I felt a twinge in my body. My lungs tightened as if to suffocate me. I tried to hide my reaction, but my face gave it away.

He took another step, and the sensation increased. I felt my ears growing warm.

Another step. Part of me wanted to retreat, but…

At last he came to me. He was so close that I could have touched him if I so chose.

We stood, just as we had so many times before, as if personal space had no meaning. My gaze was on his feet before rising to what was directly in front of me: his chest.

I started to shake. My body was thirsting for something. His closeness was affecting me.

"Did I not tell you you would return to me, my vassal?" His hand rested between my neck and shoulder. His touch triggered my body's senses. I panted a few times, trying to keep my composure. Even as my faculties began to weaken, I saw his grin, quite clearly.

"Did I not also tell you that you would one day find yourself in my home, melting under my touch?"

He was pleased. Very pleased. A wave of chills overcame me. I couldn't stop it. He'd always known that I enjoyed this sort of massage.

He had already taken ownership of what he had set out to, what had been required of him, what his master wanted…

And, now, here he was, laying claim, asserting his dominance over his prize.

I was merely an afterthought, an extra, icing on his cake, as he had described me in his realm. He didn't need me like he had needed Zelda, but, I was his desire.

And, in a small part of myself that I despised, he was mine, as well.

In weakness I had answered his call and gone to him under the cover of darkness. The deep woods had been a refuge for me, a place where secrets were kept, and yearnings were fed.

If she ever noticed me leaving in the night, she had never mentioned it.

"You owe me your loyalty, sky child. All of it. Will you give it freely, or shall I force it from you?"

I barely heard him.

"Does it bother you that I slit her throat after her essence had been fully drained?"

"Mmmm, I…Zelda…?"

"Does it leave you with an unsavory taste that it was your own sword that cleaved the spirit maiden's neck?"

I don't know when, but tears had begun to fall. I gripped his shirt with both hands, pressing my ear to my shoulder as he kneaded.

"Our meetings in the woods are nothing compared to what you are about to experience."

What he had promised to me…it was happening. I was now a pawn in his wicked game, of which there was no escape.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to.

I was slipping. Control was leaving me, and I was forgetting them.

It was an odd thing when he had his way. I would be spliced in two, torn apart, driven in two directions...

I locked eyes with him as his hands coursed my body.

Why was my face wet...?

I tried to maintain a stony expression as he smiled at me, relishing in my struggle. He knew, and I knew, that I had no chance. I had been given to an addiction of his aura long ago. But still, I played the game.

I was stiff and dogged at first.

"So wonderfully obstinate, sky child."

This. This was exactly what he wanted. To push me…further and further to the brink, exploiting my unspoken desire. He knew exactly how to do it. Then, as I tumbled over the edge, he would play, have his way however he wished, watching me, examining me with his hands, molding me into his own little experiment – seeing what he could do, how he could do it, how long he could do it, before I would lose my control. And he would marvel in what my body did, how I reacted, as if it was something brand new every time…

But, there were still many, many things that had never come to pass. His interest encompassed a single square on a chess board.

I suspected that it may, soon, break out of its box.

A blinding euphoria swept over me as he skillfully brought my senses to their highest height, cheaply doing those things to me that he knew I was susceptible to. I didn't even care when some of my clothing began to disappear.

I had lost, he had won, and this was my new life.

He guided my partially pleasured body to the most luxurious bed I had ever seen.

Gold, red, maroon surrounded me as a decadent blanket entrapped me.

I felt my arms held to the sides.

"Seeing as though you were so kind as to pay me a visit, my pet…" He stared straight at me. "Would you fancy a little game to celebrate our new beginning?"

I was helpless but to gape.

"I don't promise you…rainbows, sky child." He almost laughed. "And I dare not twist the truth to state that pain will not be an occasional companion for you. But, right now, tonight…"

He rubbed my left ear. I turned my head, offering him all of it. My own voice constructed a harmony along with his as he talked to me.

"I think it's finally time for the demon lord to show the hero what he asked of him so long ago. Is that…okay, sky child?"

Fetters began to encircle my wrists.

Oh, Goddesses…

"Y-yes, that's…okay…"